


You're always on the run now

by MediumAquaMarinePresence



Series: In this house we don't fridge women [2]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Fix-It, Gen, No Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-11-24 17:03:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20911079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MediumAquaMarinePresence/pseuds/MediumAquaMarinePresence
Summary: Instead of the Apocalypse, Vanya gets her first Academy mission, which is a learning experience for all.





	You're always on the run now

**Author's Note:**

> This is my hand at a fix-it for the Apocalypse day. I wanted everyone's character development to be showcased.
> 
> Hill I will die on: Klaus's stuffed unicorn is named Ferdinand. 
> 
> Additional CN, contain spoilers:  
\- The team kills a whole bunch of Commission folks  
\- Klaus's head gets a large cut that requires stitches, they stitch him up in medium detail

Five had talked about the end of the world earlier that week, but for Vanya it felt like it was ending right then as she stared at the little red notebook in her hands. Leonard loved her, didn’t he? He’d bathed her, cleaned the blood off her, that was what love was, wasn’t it? All her childhood and adolescence it was the only love she saw her family give each other, after missions cleaning the gore off one another. He loved her, didn’t he? But how could he have this and love her? 

“What’s this?” she asked, as if there was an answer he could give that would rectify the situation. She looked up at him, pleading for him to lie convincingly, pleading to go back in time two minutes ago and leave that book where she’d found it. He didn’t love her, she knew then, because he didn’t even try to hide it. He didn’t even give her the kindness of a lie. 

“I’ve always known you were special,” he told her, as if it meant something. “No one else could ever see it but me!” 

“No,” she heard herself tell him, as if she could undo all his ruin with her words. “No.” Things were a bit of a blank after that, but one moment she was yelling at Leonard and the next she was on the sidewalk, walking somewhere, nowhere near his house. It took her a moment to stall the frightened fleeing of her feet, and when she did, she felt even more lost. Before she at least had a direction, but then, standing in the middle of nowhere, she didn’t even have that. 

Vanya found her phone in her pocket and with shaking fingers ordered an Uber to the Academy. She didn’t know what she would find there, if her siblings would be there even, if they would know what had happened to Allison, but she had to go. It was time to face her family. 

* * *

When she was dropped off in front of the imposing building, the site of her most horrid memories, she hesitated, feeling small in its shadow. What awaited her she didn’t know, but at the very least she wouldn’t find her father inside those doors. Steeling herself she marched up to the front door and slipped inside. “Hello?” she called out, voice echoing with her footsteps on the marble floor. “Anyone?” She held her breath, hearing only her own breathing for a suspenseful minute, until from far away she heard pounding feet and her brother Klaus was flying down the stairs. 

“Vanya!” he gasped, and within seconds he’d wrapped his wiry arms around her and pulled her to his chest. “Oh thank Christ! Five said we should go out looking for you but I just _ knew _ you’d come back here. I’m so glad we waited here.” 

“Allison?” Vanya choked out, from where her face was pressed to his sternum. 

“She’s fine,” he told her, “she’s going to recover.” 

“She’s alive,” Vanya sighed in relief, lifting her arms to wrap around Klaus. 

“Are you all right? Do you wanna talk about what happened? You’re not hurt, are you?” Klaus extricated himself to hold her at arm’s length, so he could look her over worriedly. What he saw concerned him, perhaps she looked worse than she thought. “Let’s go sit down,” he told her, taking her hand and beginning to lead her toward the doors to the great room. They didn’t get far before Diego was barreling down the stairs to them. “Vanya’s home!” Klaus told him excitedly. Diego didn’t say anything as he approached, staring at her with wide eyes. 

“Are you ok?” he asked as he came to stand in front of her. 

“I’m fine,” she said, but even she heard the tremor in her voice. 

“Go sit down,” he told her, before turning and slipping away. Klaus tugged her hand, where their fingers were still intertwined, and she let him lead her to the great room and sit her down on the couch. He tucked a pillow into her lap for her to hold onto and sat close, hands hovering nearby. 

“You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to,” Klaus told her, and a jangling caught her attention long enough for her to turn her eyes to him. He didn’t look in great shape, as if he ever really did, and his fidgeting was only further proof of his current state: his right hand clutched what was some sort of necklace or pendant, she couldn’t quite tell. It was possible it was a dog tag. “We just want to know you’re ok.” 

“In a minute,” Vanya told him. They sat in relative silence for a moment, the only sound the tinkling of his dog tags as he held them tight. Diego joined them, wrapping a blanket around Vanya’s shoulders and pressing a cup of tea into her hands. 

“She’s in shock,” he told Klaus. “You know what to do.” Vanya didn’t know what that meant, but allowed Klaus to take one of her hands, gently, so gently, into his own lap and to massage her fingers to her wrist and forearm. Words, murmured and warm, reached her through a haze and she couldn’t make out the specifics. Eventually she came back to herself, the first thing she became acutely aware of was the tea in her hand so she took a sip, the warmness helping draw her once more into her body and mind. Klaus must’ve noticed because he stopped massaging and just held her hand. 

“You back with us?” he asked. Vanya nodded. 

“A bit,” she said, because there was still that gaping maw in her memory, a black hole into which whatever happened at Leonard’s house had disappeared. 

“Do you wanna tell us what happened?” Diego asked, not sounding mad for the first time in years. Before Vanya could answer the doors to the great room banged open and Luther stomped in. 

“Why didn’t anyone tell me Vanya came home?” he demanded. 

“Calm down, she’s had a rough few days,” Klaus told him, reaching out to wrap an arm around her. Luther stared at them for a long minute, face inscrutable, before he finally let go of whatever tension was pulling his shoulders as taught as the strings on her violin and sagging over to them. 

“She has powers,” he announced. “Dangerous ones. She’s the one who hurt Allison.” Klaus gasped but Diego just shook his head. 

“It was an accident,” Vanya heard herself babbling, but Diego laid a hand on her shoulder, beside where Klaus held her. 

“I know,” he told her. 

“I didn’t mean to,” she couldn’t help but continue, as if her brain couldn’t process the fact he had accepted it. 

“What, you think we don’t understand?” Klaus asked, rubbing his hand soothingly up her arm. “You know how many times Diego accidentally stabbed us? Or Luther accidentally super-strengthed us too hard?” 

“Comes with the territory,” Diego muttered. 

“How did we not know before, though?” Klaus wondered aloud. 

“The pills,” was all Vanya could think to say as explanation, and they all mulled it over in the silence that followed. Diego let his hand slide down to his lap, twitching before he grasped a knife from his belt to fidget with. Luther didn’t sit, he turned and began to pace, while Klaus just kept rubbing his hand up and down her arm. “It really was an accident,” Vanya blurted out, afraid of what they were all thinking. 

“We know,” Klaus told her. 

“Can I see Allison?” 

“Finish your tea,” Diego told her, firmly but not sharply. She considered pushing the point, but they had a routine and she knew it. Too many times to count they’d staggered in from a mission, one or more of them numb from shock and trauma. It was comforting to know there was a process, a ritual to it all, and she would be taken care of. So instead of arguing, she drank her tea and leaned into Klaus’s bony chest. 

“Where’s Five?” she asked, glancing around as if he might appear as suddenly as he usually did. 

“Don’t know,” Diego grumbled. 

“He’ll turn up,” Klaus assured her, smiling sweetly. He took her cup when she was done with the tea, and set it aside as they all made their way out of the great room and towards the infirmary. No one spoke, Diego led the way while Klaus held her hand and Luther trailed behind, his footsteps shuffling, hesitant. As the door opened and Vanya saw Allison she rushed forward, letting go of Klaus to throw herself beside Allison and clutch at her hand. 

Once her sobbing subsided she was able to sit up and see Allison smiling down at her. “I’m sorry,” Vanya whimpered, tears still trickling down her cheeks. Allison brushed them away with trembling fingers and cupped her face, before taking up her notepad and pen. 

“I love you,” Allison wrote, underlined, a heart drawn around it. She then flipped the paper over and wrote “I’m sorry”. Slowly, lurching like train cars, the story came out in bits and pieces, choked from Vanya’s dry throat and scrawled by Allison’s weak hands, of all that had transpired: the powers, the rumor, the fight in the cabin, and the mystery of what happened in Leonard’s house. Klaus put his hand on her heaving back when she couldn’t form words around the emotions clogging her throat, and for the first time in their lives possibly Diego and Luther didn’t argue, didn’t even talk, they just listened. 

With her tears dried and her breathing under control, Vanya finally sat back, feeling more exhausted than she had in her entire life. “We need to let her rest,” Luther said, in reference to the worryingly pale Allison. Gently Klaus tugged Vanya up, and let her sag against him as they left the infirmary. Grace assured them Allison would be fine, she just needed a little sleep. Out in the hallway the group of siblings floundered, not sure where to go. 

“Allison is going to be just fine,” Diego said, abruptly ending the silence. 

“Yeah,” Klaus agreed, “she’s a fighter. She’ll be all right.” 

“Vanya’s dangerous,” Luther cut in, not quite looking at them. “Unpredictable, we don’t know what could happen.” While Diego opened his mouth to argue, it was Klaus, never letting go of her, who spoke up. 

“_She’s _ dangerous?” he demanded, voice suddenly burning. “We’re _ all _ dangerous! Diego threw a knife at me _ today_! You-” he pointed an accusatory finger at Luther- “choked me and threw me on the ground yesterday! Ben punched me in the face like, two hours ago! So what if she’s _ dangerous_? How’s she going to learn to be not dangerous without our help?” Vanya supposed they were all shocked at different parts of that little rant: she herself felt her brain snag on the mention of Ben, while Luther’s eyes had gone wide at the fact Klaus was actually speaking up, and Diego’s eyes narrowed when he heard what Luther had done. 

“Luther did _ what_?” he growled. Klaus blinked at him, as if just as stunned as everyone else at his outburst. 

“I also punched Five in the face,” he added sheepishly, hand coming up to rub at the back of his head. Whatever Luther was going to say dried up, he just stood there awkwardly, blinking around as if just waking up. 

“Ben?” Vanya asked. 

“Don’t encourage him,” Diego muttered. “Look, so she has powers, pretty powerful ones. But if we practice, if we work on it and help her out, she should be able to- to to to- control it, right?” Klaus’s head, which had been retreating into his chest since his little speech, popped up, eyes wide. 

“Sober Klaus has a contribution,” he said, a little breathless. “There’s intruders downstairs.” 

“Sober?” Luther asked, at the same time Diego asked “where downstairs?”. 

“Uh, they just entered the foyer,” Klaus explained, eyes looking a little glossy. 

“Keep Vanya safe,” Luther ordered, pushing past Klaus and Vanya toward the stairs. “Diego, you’re with me.” Diego followed Luther, pausing at the top of the stairs to glance back at Klaus and Vanya. 

“Get her out of the house,” he said. “Bowling alley.” 

“Right,” Klaus muttered. “Go get em?” Diego grimaced and tossed Klaus a knife, who shrieked and let it hurtle past him. 

“Try not to die, genius,” he grumbled, before hurrying after Luther. Klaus gingerly picked up the knife, holding it out from his body and scrutinizing it like someone might look at a dead fish. 

“What about Allison? And Mom? And Pogo?” Vanya asked, trying not to let the mounting panic in her chest take over her mind. 

“Let’s, uh… let’s go do something about all of that,” Klaus muttered, glancing around. It was reminiscent of the distracted way he had behaved growing up, the twitching, the muttering, the glassy eyed look no one could penetrate. While it took a moment to click, through her panic and exhaustion, Vanya felt her heart leap into her throat: Klaus was sober. Without a word they scurried back to the infirmary. “Armed intruders,” Klaus announced breathlessly, moving around to go help Allison sit up on the bed. Grace helped him get Allison out of bed, and supported her daughter as Klaus transferred her off his arm. 

“Where’s Pogo?” Vanya asked Grace, who beamed at her. 

“I don’t know,” she told her cheerily. From downstairs they could all hear the unmistakable popping of gunfire. Klaus twitched, visibly, and his hands tangled themselves in his hair far too tight. 

“We need to get out of here,” he decided at last. “Come on, Mom, let’s go.” With Grace helping Allison and Klaus leading the way, Vanya fell into step right behind him, watching carefully because of the disjointed way he moved, stopping at odd intervals and cocking his head to listen to something no one else could hear. By the time they reached the stairs Allison was walking on her own, looking more alert. They rushed down the stairs, Klaus urging them on, but when they came to the bottom of the staircase they came face to face with the Commission strike team. 

Time seemed to slow down as the group faced down the armed intruders, who didn’t fire right away. No one seemed to move, seemed to breathe, when two things happened almost simultaneously: in a flash of blue light Five appeared, latching onto the back of one of the intruders, while Klaus threw himself bodily over Vanya, crushing her to the ground against the wall. Vanya pressed her hands over her ears and screwed her eyes shut and focused hard on her breathing, with almost the full weight of her brother on top of her and shielding her from the gunfire. 

It seemed like forever until Klaus was crawling off her and helping her up, when the gunfire had ceased and she could shakily climb to her feet and see the bodies of their attackers on the ground. “I’m ok,” she said in response to Klaus’s wide, searching eyes. 

“I leave you alone for an hour, and this is what I come back to?” Five asked, inspecting his nails. Klaus rolled his eyes. 

“Thanks,” he said, slouching his way over to the bodies and crouching beside them. Acting on autopilot he pulled the assault rifle from the corpse and inspected it, before slinging it over his own shoulder and standing. “Get Vanya and Mom out of here, all right? We’ll meet at the bowling alley.” 

“Right.” They swapped places, Klaus ambling off while Five came closer, still a little splattered with blood, but far less blood than the sheer volume of loss of life before her really engendered. “Let’s get going,” he said, as if that was that. He held out his hand and Vanya just stared, so he frowned, wiped his hand on his shorts to get the blood off, and held it out again, more insistent. 

“What about the others,” she asked, voice shaking. 

“They’ll be fine,” Five told her, impatiently grabbing her hand and then Grace’s and without further argument they were gone. 

* * *

“It’s your turn,” Five reminded Vanya, voice soft and low. Vanya shook herself, glancing over to him. “If you don’t take a turn they’re going to kick us out.” 

“It’s been too long,” Vanya said, clenching her hands in her lap under the fluorescent lighting of the bowling alley. “Something must’ve happened.” 

“They’ll be fine,” Five told her again. “What’s important is you’re safe. Mom’s safe. All right?” He reached between the seats and pulled out a newspaper, unfolding it in his lap. 

“We left Allison.” 

“She’s tough.” 

“She can’t speak. She has no powers.” 

“She’s resourceful.” 

“They’re in trouble and we’re just sitting here, bowling,” Vanya said, wishing she sounded mad rather than shocked. Five shrugged. 

“They’ll meet us here.” Vanya opened her mouth to argue, but when she turned her head to glare at Five she caught sight of a hulking figure shunting his body through the door. She was on her feet before she even realized who it was, some part of her lizard brain already knowing it was Luther, and they met in front of the concessions. He looked pale, there was blood spotted over his coat, but it didn’t look like it was his. 

“We need to go,” he told her, voice tight. “Get Mom and Five.” 

“What’s going on?” Luther licked his lips and looked over her head, not answering as Five and Grace joined them. 

“We’re going to Diego’s place,” he explained. “I need Mom in my car, so she can check on Allison. Five, do you have enough energy to jump Vanya and yourself there?” Five looked Luther over and didn’t argue. 

“Yeah, see you there,” he said, and didn’t wait for Vanya to hold his hand this time, simply reaching out and grasping her sleeve and in a flash of blue light they were in a dingy gym. The sudden change had Vanya reeling, and she stumbled back against one of the boxing rings to steady herself. Bile rose in her throat but she forced it down, using the skills she acquired by dry swallow pills. “You ok?” Five asked, placing a steadying hand on her shoulder. 

“Give me a minute,” she whispered, taking a few deep, steadying breaths. Five waited for her, uncharacteristically patient while she caught her breath and steadied her stomach, before she finally pushed herself up. “I’ve never been here before,” she said, looking around. “Lead the way.” She didn’t know Diego lived in the boiler room of a gym, she didn’t know if it was temporary or just somewhere he operated out of, but when she stepped into his space it seemed oddly fitting: devoid of luxury, strictly utilitarian, grungy, dim. At the center of the room Klaus was seated on an upturned bucket while Diego stood behind him, shaving the back of his head with a disposable razor. Both of them had blood on them, but Klaus was absolutely soaked in it, huge swathes smeared across his chest, hands, and face. Klaus looked up as Five and Vanya entered, but when he tried to move Diego growled at him to stay still. 

“He’s going to need stitches,” he explained without looking up from his work. “Can you take care of that, Five?” 

“Sure,” Five said, moving over to switch places with Diego. Freed from his duties Diego walked over to Vanya and steered her to sit in the only real chair available. 

“Where’s Mom?” he asked, voice hoarse. 

“We left her with Luther and Allison at the bowling alley. What happened to Klaus?” Vanya watched as Five inspected the back of Klaus’s head, who twitched and complained. Five grimaced and handed him the newspaper he’d brought. 

“Read that, it’ll distract you,” he said. 

“One of those fuckers threw him against a table, it’s not bad just bleeding a lot,” Diego explained. Klaus happily unfolded the newspaper and flourished it while Five prepared the needle driver. Vanya hated she knew what it was he was doing, hated the lack of fear or shock she felt at seeing Klaus’s head split open, and their brother calmly stitching him back together. 

“We should really go to the hospital,” she said, because she felt someone ought to say it. All three of her brothers looked at her dubiously. 

“It’s not that bad,” Klaus assured her. “Most of this blood isn’t even mine! I was handling myself perfectly fine when Diego decided to see if he could hit a carotid artery from fifty paces. Fun fact: he can!” 

“I saved your ass, now shut up so Five can get to work,” Diego told him, folding his arms over his chest. Klaus scowled and looked down at the newspaper, and before Five even had a handle on the forceps he let out a pained whimper. 

“I didn’t even touch you!” Five protested. 

“Vanya’s concert is tonight!” Klaus all but wailed, waving the newspaper around. “She’s supposed to have her solo!” Diego moved to look over Klaus’s shoulder at the newspaper, eyebrows raising. 

“Wow, that’s pretty cool,” he said, glancing up at Vanya. “Sorry we’ve kind of ruined it.” 

“Give me your knife,” Klaus said breathlessly. “I wanna cut this out and frame it.” 

“Dude, find a different one, you got blood all over it,” Diego told him. “And stop moving or you’re going to get wonky stitches.” Klaus sulked and did try to sit still as Five began stitching him up. Diego, satisfied Klaus was in good hands, returned to Vanya. “It’s... not too late, is it?” he asked, voice uncharacteristically soft. “We haven’t heard you play in so long.” 

“I think the end of the world takes priority,” Five called. 

“We gotta be doing something right, though, the Commission is still after us,” Diego pointed out. 

“I wanna go to her concert,” Klaus called out, punctuated by a loud “ow!” that was more show than anything. At most, Klaus looked bored at having to sit still and not fidget or talk, rather than how Vanya imagined he should have been, scared and in pain. The whole situation was far too casual for her liking, but this was what it meant to be part of the Academy, she supposed. Welcome to the team. 

“It’s fine,” Vanya murmured, to fill the silence so she wouldn’t have to hear the slightly squishy sounds of the fleshy edges of Klaus’s scalp being sutured together. “I… this is more important. Family, uh, it’s… it’s fine.” 

“Some family,” Diego muttered darkly. “Luther said he was coming right here, didn’t he?” 

“He had Allison in the car and wanted mom to check on her, he might have gone to a hospital,” Vanya said, and Five grunted in acknowledgment. Klaus began nervously bouncing his leg and biting at his nails, and Five set down his tools in frustration. 

“We’ve barely even started,” he told him. “Can someone talk to him? Keep him distracted?” Diego didn’t seem up to the challenge of capturing Klaus’s attention, and since she really hadn’t been hurt or in any of the fighting Vanya volunteered herself, scooting her chair to sit in front of him. As he did for her before she took his hand in hers and held it in her lap, expecting him to squeeze it. He didn’t, he just let it lay limply in her grasp. Only when she sat with their knees almost touching did she consider she had nothing to talk about with her own brother. 

“So, uh, tell me about your solo,” Klaus tried. Vanya gave him a small smile. 

“You would’ve liked it, it’s a very intense piece,” she said. Maybe there was a tumblr blog she could read him? When she fished out her phone an idea occurred to her, so she opened Tinder and handed it to him. “Go ahead and swipe,” she said, and his eyes lit up. 

“You’re the best,” he said with a grin. It wasn’t like he could mess anything up, she was pretty sure you couldn’t get any worse than falling in love in all of three days with the first manipulative man to tell you were special. With Klaus occupied the room settled into an easier silence than before, Five at least could concentrate on what he was doing, and Diego could finally relax knowing Klaus wasn’t going to make any sudden movements. And Vanya. Vanya gained the distance she always put between herself and her family, between herself and the world, even when it wasn’t strictly necessary. Every couple of minutes Klaus would pull a face or mutter something like “ew neck tat” or “what a fuckboy”, but for the most part things were quiet, almost peaceful. 

It took longer than Vanya thought it would, but she’d never been around for that sort of thing growing up. Five moved with purpose and practice, so perhaps it took shorter than it should have. Finally he set aside the forceps and needle and needle driver and stepped back. “There, you’re good to go,” he said, and Klaus handed Vanya back her phone. She didn’t mention the blood he’d smeared on her phone case, but at least he hadn’t gotten any on her screen. 

“Let’s go get you cleaned up, Frankenstein,” Diego said, hauling Klaus to his feet. Vanya caught a glimpse of his head, the area around the cut was shaved and the cut itself was gnarly and gory, bloody and pinched with the sutures, but not as long as she thought it would be.

“Mean and inaccurate,” Klaus laughed, but didn’t resist as Diego steered him out of the room. On his way out Diego grabbed a towel, so Vanya assumed they were headed to the gym showers. Was that where Diego showered? Five sat on the bed, leaving the bucket Klaus had occupied between them, and looked at her with such intense purpose Vanya couldn’t meet his gaze. 

“So,” he said. “Powers. That’s nice for you, I guess. Hasn’t done us much good, but hey, seventh time’s the charm, right?” Vanya’s head jerked up. 

“I’m confused,” she admitted, “all I ever wanted was to be like you guys, and you…?” 

“I’m sure we all had our moments of jealousy,” Five said. “If things got bad with training, if a mission went sideways, we all probably wished we had your life. But that’s the past, we’re adults now, we can make our own choices.” 

“I’m worried about Luther and Allison and Mom,” Vanya blurted out, desperate to change the subject. 

“I’ll be worried if they’re not here in the next… oh, say, half hour?” Five shrugged. “Waste of resources to worry before our time.” 

“Will Klaus be ok?” 

“Please. Even if it was bad, he has more painkillers than blood,” Five retorted. 

“He’s… he’s sober.” Five grunted, looking away. 

“I wonder,” he said slowly. “Your powers might have something to do with the apocalypse. When I arrived, the Commission wasn’t firing at you, back at the Academy. You might be meant to survive this whole thing. Back in-” Five swallowed, “back in the Apocalypse, I couldn’t find your body, or Ben’s. I thought maybe you two survived, but as the years dragged on I gave up hope. When I read your book I understood why I didn’t see Ben, but you…” 

“You saw our bodies?” Vanya asked, eyes wide. 

“Their bodies,” he corrected. “Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus.” 

“That’s awful.” Five cast his gaze aside, and they sat in silence until Diego and Klaus returned. Wearing only a towel Klaus gleefully began going through Diego’s clothes to find something to wear. 

“Good color, questionable style,” he muttered, picking up a black turtleneck and scanning it critically. 

“I think Vanya’s powers have something to do with the end of the world,” Five announced. Klaus and Diego didn’t listen, they were busy getting changed, right in front of Vanya too, like when they were kids. It was comforting, in a strange way, it felt like being accepted. “Are you paying attention?” Five demanded. 

“You sound like Luther,” Diego muttered. 

“Speaking of which, where did King Kong get himself to?” Klaus asked as Diego began wrapping a bandage over his cut. They were all saved from speculating when they heard feet pounding down the hallway, and Diego was halfway to the door when it burst open and Luther barreled in, supporting Allison on one arm and leading Grace with his other. No one asked questions right away, they were all in Academy mode: Diego went to Grace while Klaus helped Allison to the bed where he and Five checked her over for injuries. 

“What happened?” Diego eventually asked, once he was assured Grace was all right. 

“You _ live _ here?” their mother asked in amazement, looking around. “Oh _ Diego_.” 

“The Commission,” Luther answered, still a little out of breath. “They caught us at the bowling alley, I don’t know how they even _ found _ us.” 

“Was anyone hurt?” Klaus asked. Allison shook her head as did Luther. “Thank God,” Klaus sighed. 

“We can’t stay here,” Five told them. “If they found you in the bowling alley, they’re likely following me.” 

“Where can we even go, though?” Klaus asked, eyes wide as he held Allison’s hand. Allison didn’t let him do it for long, she scrambled for her pen and paper pad to scrawl out: 

“Vanya’s concert.” 

“That’s what I was saying!” Klaus gasped, looking around for approval. 

“It’s an interesting idea,” Five mused. “Whatever is happening tonight, could be happening there, since I theorize Vanya’s powers are tied to all this. The Commission wanted Harold alive, but since he’s dead and the apocalypse still might happen, what can we learn from that?” Five’s eyes narrowed at his sister. “The Commission _ wanted _ you to find your powers. That’s why he needed to survive, long enough to make that happen.”

“Wait wait wait,” Diego cut in. “So you’re saying if the Commission wanted her to find her powers, and they want the apocalypse to go down, then…?” The silence that descended on them was heavy, no one looked at each other, least of all at Vanya. It was broken by Allison writing something down and waving her notepad about, until Five finally took it and read out: 

“She’s our sister. We have to protect her.” 

“Yeah!” Klaus agreed, bobbing his head and smiling. “It’s not like she’s trying to end the world right? Vanya?” Vanya opened her mouth to respond, to assure her siblings she had no intention of bringing about the Apocalypse, but Diego cut her off. 

“That was a joke, Vanya, we know you’re not plotting the end of the world,” he said, sounding equal measures amused and annoyed. 

“Maybe the Commission uses her,” Luther spoke up. “Maybe, if she didn’t come home, or we weren’t there or something, they got to her first.” 

“I found your bodies at the Academy, maybe you died defending her,” Five said, almost excitedly. It seemed plausible, they had all almost died defending her that very night, so for the moment it sat well enough for them to move on. They would interrogate that narrative later. 

“We can’t keep running,” Luther announced, voice firm. “We need to meet them head on and take them out once and for all. We’re spread too thin, we’ll run out of options before they do, otherwise.” 

“Sure but we need a plan,” Diego said, and the entire room stopped to openly gape at him. “What?” 

“Did you just agree with Luther?” Klaus asked, eyes wide. 

“Shut up,” Diego growled, glaring at him. 

“It’s so nice to see you kids working together again,” Grace sighed wistfully. 

“How’s this for a plan,” Luther started again, clearing his throat to get their attention. “We can’t keep Grace with us. We need to get her somewhere safe, back at the Academy probably. Then we should regroup at the theater. No one travels alone, everyone needs a partner.” 

“I’ve got Vanya,” Diego shot, as if he was afraid someone else would claim the coveted spot. “Klaus and Five, you get over to the theater and scope it out. Vanya and I will take Mom home. Allison and Luther-” Diego paused, as if he hadn’t thought that far ahead. 

“We’ll stake out here,” Luther decided, and Allison nodded along. “We can see if they’re really following us, maybe try and spread them out.” 

“Don’t get too sucked into a showdown here, if they show up,” Five told Luther, but looking at Allison as he spoke, “we can’t get spread out, like you said.” 

“Right.” There was a moment of silence before Diego turned to Vanya, helping Grace to her feet. 

“Let’s get going,” he told her, and the authority in his voice and the plan they’d concocted helped her let go and follow him to the door. 

“Diego?” Klaus called, before they stepped out into the hallway. “Be careful, man.” Diego nodded. 

“You too,” he returned, before leading Vanya out into the hallway and back through the gym and to his car. He opened the car door for Grace as Vanya climbed into the passenger’s side. As they started off she reached out to turn on the radio, and almost on impulse Diego’s hand came out to smack hers away. The moment of aggression seemed to put them both on edge, until Diego let out a long, slow breath. “Sorry, too much driving with Klaus,” he apologized. 

“No, it’s ok,” Vanya told him, and she thought maybe she meant it, maybe being Diego’s sister was a little awful, like when he’d pull her pigtails as a child or stick gum in her hair or decapitate her barbies, but it reminded her of their familial bond. Because there were wonderful parts of being Diego’s sister, the way he’d make her laugh until milk came out her nose, the way he’d wake up at 3 in the morning if she needed a ride home and not even tease her about it, the way he’d throw himself between her and any danger he even perceived, like making sure she was walking opposite the street edge of the sidewalk or glaring at men on the street who so much as looked at her. Yes it could be overbearing, but Diego never knew when to draw the line, when to cut his losses, and he’d never given up on her until she pushed him away. Only now was she starting to see the scope of her role in her isolation from her family. 

They drew up to the back alley at the Academy, and Diego again helped Grace from the car and to the house. “Do you think they’ll be safe here?” Vanya asked as they entered the unlit foyer. “Last time those guys broke in, they…. Mom…” Diego sighed. 

“They were after us,” he said. “I think it’s safer for them if we’re not here.” Vanya accepted that, as they walked Grace up the stairs and to her art covered alcove. Diego sat her down and knelt beside her, taking her hands and explaining to her in soft tones what was going on. It made Vanya feel slightly awkward, mostly because she never spoke to Grace like that, couldn’t see her as the mother Diego saw, but she tamped down on that. The guilt that rose up in her was common, it flared up like arthritic joints, and she was learning only some of it was real and worth her time. 

When he was sure Grace was situated and secure, Diego stood and turned to Vanya. “Do you need anything before we go?” he asked. 

“I don’t know,” Vanya answered, hands in her pockets. “I- I’m not sure I can use my powers, it’s- I don’t have control…” 

“It’s fine, I’ve got more knives than they can deal with,” Diego told her, a bit puffed in the chest but it felt nice, to be protected at last. “Let’s go.” Once more they left the academy, though they stopped by Diego’s childhood room to pick up an extra briefcase of knives, which felt like it ought to be odd but it wasn’t. The silence in the car felt a little more tense, the way things did when Vanya could feel herself getting closer to her siblings, a tension between what she wanted to say and what she knew would happen if she did. “Look,” Diego told her, and his tone told her he felt it too. “We’re going to have a lot to talk about after this. Not just about your powers, but about… about all of it. But just-” his jaw worked soundlessly, she could see the tendon stand out in the dim light, she was reminded he cracked a tooth when he was shot as a teenager because he grit his teeth too hard. “Don’t think just because I’m mad at you you’re not my sister, ok?” 

“You haven’t exactly made that clear,” Vanya couldn’t help but point out. His mouth twisted, lips pressed tight, in his usual angry scowl. 

“I know,” he ground out at last. “I know. I thought.” Another pause, and Vanya was reminded he had never really overcome his stutter, he just controlled it, just knew when it would come up and clamped his mouth shut. “I thought being part of this family meant keeping secrets. But I’m thinking… maybe that was wrong.” Vanya blinked, stunned into silence. Was Diego… apologizing? Empathizing? What was going on? 

“I…” Vanya looked at her hands in her lap, and willed herself not to pull away. Not this time. This time, with change on the horizon, with family just within reach, if only she could reach out and grasp it. “I’ll be there. After all this. To. To work on all that.” Diego nodded, his throat bobbing, a sure tell of the emotions that had choked him into silence. 

“Right,” he managed, hands gripping the steering wheel. This time when she reached out for the radio he side-eyed her. “Nothing weird,” he told her warningly, and she was happy to trade his gruff attitude for the slap to her hand. 

“Is Klaus going to be ok?” Vanya couldn’t help but ask again. Diego chuckled. 

“He’ll be just fine, he’s been through way worse and walked away,” he assured her. Looking out the window, Vanya felt the familiar isolation she had felt as a child, knowing she wouldn’t be a part of things no matter how painful. How jealous she had been of the matching tattoos her siblings got, when they had all been crying and in pain? The more the night dragged on the more she was feeling like she really wasn’t a part of things, she didn’t slip into the routines they did, she hadn’t seen or done the things they had as children, but at that moment she was grateful. She was grateful she hadn’t lived a life that made her laugh at Klaus getting a head injury. She was glad she hadn’t lived a life where she knew how to stitch up her siblings well enough to do it on autopilot. She was grateful she had lived a life where she didn’t know what being shot felt like. “Says he’s sober, though. Seeing ghosts and all that shit.” 

“Yeah.” 

“Think it’ll last?” Vanya shrugged. 

“It hasn’t before, but who knows? Things are changing.” 

“Yeah. Yeah,” Diego agreed, the last repetition of it whispered as he let out a sigh. 

They parked the car a few blocks from the theater and approached on foot, Diego moving ahead and signaling to Vanya when it was safe to follow. “We don’t know what we’re going to find there,” he told her, “we need to be ready for anything. Moving like leapfrog they lurched from alley to alley, keeping to the shadows, staying hidden and still and silent until no movement or danger could be detected, and then moving on. Vanya let out a breath of relief when finally the theater loomed into view, and she could see the line of Diego’s shoulders ease as well, where he stood before her in the mouth of the alley. 

Diego led her with purpose to a side door that led them to a maintenance hall, and Vanya was only slightly disturbed at how well he seemed to know how to do that. “No one’s here,” Diego said, after a moment to listen. “You can’t hear the concert, can you?” It was too early for intermission. 

“That’s not a good sign,” she added, wondering what it all meant as they stood in the unlit hallway. From where they stood they couldn’t see either end of the hall, and neither of them moved for a long moment to figure out which way to go. Neither wanted to split up, but walking into the unknown seemed too daunting. They were saved from it when they heard footsteps approaching from the farther end. 

“Family!” Klaus called. “Good to see you!” They couldn’t see each other, and they didn’t breathe until Klaus sauntered into view. 

“Jesus, you nearly gave me a heart attack,” Diego sighed. Klaus beamed at him. 

“So Five pulled the fire alarm,” he said conversationally. “He’s a little paranoid but he feels like something is going to happen here, and wanted to get all the civvies out. Fire department’s on the way, so no one answer the door, we’ll pretend we aren’t home.” 

“Allison and Luther haven’t shown up?” Vanya asked. Klaus shrugged. 

“Not that I’ve heard,” he replied. “Have you not heard from them?” Diego clenched his fists. 

“And where’s Five?” he demanded. 

“Other end of the hall, we were doing like a-” Klaus gestured- “pincer movement. Ghosties said it was you though so he’s just sulking. He wanted it to be the Commission, poor thing.” They all heard light footsteps before Five came into view. 

“With the fire department coming, there might be police, but either way this place is going to be under surveillance. Hopefully that’ll scare off some of the Commission, but not for long. If they wanted to do this covertly we’ve at least eliminated that option.” 

“Or nothing could be happening here and Allison and Luther need help,” Diego snapped. “Is there a phone here? We should at least call the gym, see if they’re there.” Five looked like he was about to argue, before Klaus agreed hastily. 

“Yeah let’s go find a phone and call Allison and Luther,” he hurried to say, sliding up to Diego. “Let’s go to the lobby, there’s a payphone there.” Two opinions given was enough to get the group moving down the hall, Diego leading the way, Five right behind him, Vanya and Klaus huddled together at the rear. It was strange to see the carpeted lobby, with its grand vaulted ceilings and carved columns empty, without even employees at concessions, littered all over the ground was debris from the frantic fleeing of the concertgoers, employees, and performers alike dropping their shawls, concessions, and some kicking off shoes, a few earrings or other bits of jewelry lay strewn about. No one else seemed bothered, Diego made a beeline for the payphone, while Five and Klaus hung back, automatically taking up lookout positions at either end of the lobby. Vanya hung back awkwardly, close enough to listen as Diego angrily shoved quarters into the payphone. 

“Gonna be really fucking pissed off if you’re stealing spare change now,” he muttered, to no one in particular, as he dug through his pockets. Finally, with the quarter in hand he jammed it in the payphone, only to have it be spat back out, and only a few curses later did he manage to actually get the quarter into the slot and dial the number. “Pick up, pick up, pick up,” he chanted under his breath, so anxious and frustrated Vanya had to look away. Diego’s emotions more than anyone else’s got to her, got under her skin and sunk into her chest. In turning, though, she spied, just as Five did, two figures approaching from the side hall they had taken to get in. Overwhelmed with her relief Vanya raced to them and threw herself into Allison’s arms. 

“I’m so glad you’re ok, we were worried,” she babbled into her sister’s chest, until Allison extricated herself so they could look into each other’s eyes. Without her words Allison only had her reassuring smile, but that was enough to quell the anxiety in Vanya’s gut for the time being. 

“You were worried?” Luther asked, equal parts surprised and confused. 

“No,” Diego grumbled, marching over to them. “Did you have any trouble?” 

“No trouble,” Luther replied, “no sign of the commission. I guess this is it, huh?” Klaus had wandered over by that point, and they all stood far away enough, almost in a complete circle, to stare at one another. “We need a plan.” 

“Everyone stick to your partners,” Diego told them seriously, and Klaus blew a raspberry. 

“Mine teleports, that’s kind of hard,” he whined, but shut up when Allison gave him a look. 

“There’s three ways into the building, the North main entrance here, the West side entrance we all came through, and the East entrance. If each group takes an entrance we’ll cover all our bases,” Five explained. 

“So what do we do when the baddies show up at the door?” Klaus asked. 

“We funnel them to the performance hall,” Luther decided. “As a group we can take them, we have more mobility, if we can trap them there we can gain the advantage.” 

“Ooh, I left my gun in Diego’s car,” Klaus gasped, “does anyone have a spare?” Everyone stared, and Klaus ducked his head, sulking, muttering “I’ll just pick on off a time fascist, it’s fine.” 

“Since when do you know how to fire a gun?” Diego demanded, but Luther cut him off. 

“Look, we don’t really have time for this conversation,” he said. “Same teams as before. Allison and I will go to the East side, Diego and Vanya back to the West, and Five and Klaus can stay here. The lobby is the most open space, it’s vulnerable and we need to be able to move, so Five, you need to be ready to jump right to the concert hall with Klaus if things get tough.” 

“Right,” Five agreed. 

“And Diego,” Luther continued, “keep Vanya safe. She’s the one they’re after, we can’t let her be bait. Be vigilant, ok?” It almost sounded like Luther was saying “I’m trusting you with her, take care of her”. 

“Let’s get going,” Diego muttered, gesturing for Vanya to follow him. As they made their way back to the hall they had come in through, Diego walked right beside her and handed Vanya a knife. “Now a knife can be defensive and offensive, but not against bullets. Use it to block if you get cornered, but keep your distance, ok? Let me deal with the fighting.” 

“Ok,” Vanya agreed. “Be careful, though. They have guns.” 

“They always have guns,” Diego grumbled, “what, you think that’s new?” It was an awful realization, then, that her siblings had been so unprotected as children. Reginald Hargreeves had sent six of his children with only their super powers for protection, against armed assailants. How many times had they come home shot? How many times had they had to pull bullets out of each other, how familiar were they, at such young ages, with bullet wounds? It wasn’t the time to dissect that, they were in danger and needed to prepare, but she would have to ask later about it. She was beginning to realize how little she knew of missions, what trauma they were all dragged through that she wanted to be a part of. 

In the dark of the hall they waited together, silent companionship where she imagined even their breathing synced, until they could hear sounds of approach and readied themselves for attack. The first wave fell to Diego’s knives before they could even shoot, and the second wave had their bodies to contend with to even get through the door. By the time the third wave made it through the door and down the hall Diego was pushing, shoving Vanya away, urging her to run. 

For one moment Vanya stared, wide eyed at what Diego was facing, but fear took her heart and the next thing she was aware of was her pounding feet as the lobby loomed into view. To her surprise she ran straight into Luther, who was already moving toward her. “Where’s Diego?” he asked while Vanya caught her breath. 

“He’s back in the hall,” she explained, “he should be right behind me.” 

“Allison, you and Vanya need to get to the concert hall,” Luther told them. “Without your powers you’re vulnerable.” Allison opened her mouth to argue, her eyes wide and fiery, but no sound left her lips. “There’s no time to argue,” Luther continued, voice rising, “Diego needs me. You two need to get going.” They could hear echoing gunfire, Vanya had never realized how loud it was, and with one look of concern back at them Luther barged off toward the sounds of fighting. Allison tugged at her, rather insistently, and Vanya allowed herself to be pulled away from the lobby toward the concert hall. 

Almost immediately they had to duck down behind the seats, with armed Commission agents working their way down the aisles toward the stage. Five blinked in front and behind them, in quick succession, succeeding in tricking quite a few of them into firing on their companions. It took Vanya a moment to locate Klaus, crouched on a balcony with another assault rifle trained on the agents. 

Allison pulled Vanya to the side, urging her not forward but towards the back corner, keeping their heads down so as not to be spotted. Five was running out of steam, they could tell by the lapses between jumps, but thankfully her brothers had a plan. With his last bit of energy Five jumped to the balcony, while Klaus’s gunfire picked off some of the last remaining agents. Their deaths came with such ease and practice Vanya only felt vile confusion, seeing her sweet and sensitive brother mete out death and mayhem as easily as he joked with them. 

Something in Allison must have sensed what was going on in Vanya’s head, and she pulled her into a hug where they squatted behind the red velvet chairs of the concert hall that should have been full, and there against her sister’s chest Vanya could pretend things were ok. Like when she had been at Leonard’s house, time was lost for a moment, until Allison was pulling away and Klaus and Five were crouched beside them. “Where are Diego and Luther?” Five asked. Vanya remained silent, forgetting momentarily that Allison couldn’t explain, until Allison elbowed her. 

“Oh. Uh. I don’t know,” she said at last, blinking rapidly. “He went to help Diego at the West door.” 

“They’re coming,” Klaus finally said, voice muted. “Anyone have a cigarette?” To everyone’s surprise Allison did, she pulled both a cigarette and a lighter out of her pocket and handed them over. Klaus grunted in thanks and with hands that were far too steady he slipped it into his mouth and lit up. The image he painted was almost familiar, squatting in an army green vest, with dog tags around his neck and a gun over his shoulder with a cigarette clamped in his lips. “Here they are,” Klaus almost whispered, eyes going slightly wide, and Vanya couldn’t help but suppress the shudder that ran down her spine at how creepy that all was, but true enough Luther and Diego came bursting in through the main doors and threw themselves down between the rows of chairs. They were followed shortly after by another wave of Commission agents, and a few were distracted by Diego’s knives in time for Five to blink forward, drawing them in while the siblings scattered down the aisles on the far sides of the theater. 

What happened next was slightly unclear to Vanya, she could’ve sworn she heard Klaus say “show time motherfucker”, but Allison later would remember him not saying anything, just remembered, like Vanya, the calm that overcame him as he held his fists in front of him. Vanya remembered the blue glow before the shaking, but Diego remembered the shaking before the blue glow, but the result was the same for all of them: flickering at first, then clearer and clearer came the image of Ben, standing beside them, a blue afterimage, fuzzy around the edges but there. Real. 

“Ben?” Vanya whispered, and he glanced down and offered her a small smile. But then he and Klaus were moving, Klaus was standing and tightening his fists as his entire body shook like the dashboard of a car going far too fast, and Ben was leaping over seats toward the Commission agents. They didn’t have time to even react before he was unleashing the Horror, and then they were gone, heads popped off, bodies consumed, limbs rent apart. 

Vanya had never seen Ben use his powers to fight, she’d only seen the aftermath, and it was far more awful than she ever could have imagined. How her young siblings had stomached it, how they had seen such things and still made it to semi-functional adulthood was beyond her in that moment. 

When every last Commission agent was dead Ben finally relaxed, the Horror retreated, and Klaus was vaulting over seats to him. They shared a single embrace before Ben vanished into thin air, and Klaus was left standing and shaking and empty handed. 

“It was him,” Diego breathed, eyes wide, “Ben.” Allison’s eyes shone as she stared at Klaus, a hand coming up to cover her mouth. To their surprise Luther was the first one to reach Klaus, nearly getting to him before he collapsed to the floor. Vanya, Diego, and Allison all rushed to help, but Luther already had Klaus propped up against his chest as he crouched on the floor. 

“Klaus?” Vanya asked as Diego knelt beside Luther and Klaus, but Klaus’s head just lolled to the side. Five darted in and backhanded Klaus hard enough to send his head snapping the other direction, but it did the trick and Klaus jolted awake. 

“What?” Five asked when everyone glared at him. “He has brain damage, we can’t let him nap.” 

“I don’t have brain damage,” Klaus grumbled, face pulling into a scowl as he shifted around. Luther helped him sit up by himself, and eventually stand, but that left them with the awkward predicament of standing in a sea of corpses with the fire department on the way. Considering the sheer amount of gunfire likely the police as well. “Does anyone wanna get tacos?” Klaus asked eventually. “I think there’s a taco truck outside.” 

“We need to flee the scene of the crime,” Five told them evenly. “I can jump us all out of here, but we need to take our cars, we can’t leave any evidence.” 

“Well Kumbaya, and all,” Klaus murmured. 

“How are we even going to tell if he has brain damage,” Five muttered, but held out his hands. Vanya grasped one, Luther the other, and Luther balanced Klaus against him who was still terribly unstable, and Diego put a hand on Klaus’s shoulder and then held Allison’s hand, who reached out to Vanya and like that completed the circle. Like that they all ended up out by Diego’s car. “Get Klaus home,” Five told Diego seriously. Luther transferred Klaus to Diego, who hung heavily on his arm before Diego maneuvered him into the front seat, even going so far as to buckle his seat belt for him. Vanya had ridden there in the front seat, and Diego was supposed to be her partner, so was she expected to accompany them? 

“Come on Vanya,” Diego said, and like that her place was sealed, and she happily hopped into the back seat. Despite being possibly concussed and however exhausted after what she assumed was a monumental display of powers, not to mention being recently detoxing, Klaus immediately switched on the radio and flipped the stations around until he found some top 40 pop station. For the ride home things were peaceful, if only because Diego wasn’t complaining about Klaus’ choice of music or singing. They got back to the Academy and Diego helped Klaus out of the car, who insisted he was fine but stumbled all over the place and leaned on Diego the entire way to the great room, before he was deposited onto the couch. “Vanya, keep an eye on this idiot, make sure he doesn’t fall asleep,” Diego ordered as he marched out of the room. Klaus stuck his tongue out at Diego’s retreating back, but then he turned his bright eyes to Vanya. 

“Do you have a violin here?” he asked. “I still wanna hear your piece.” 

“No, I don’t,” Vanya admitted. She’d only ever had the one her father had given her, and it was currently in her apartment. “Tomorrow I can grab it from my place, if you want.” Klaus snorted. 

“We’ll see how I feel after the adrenaline crash,” he told her with a smirk. “This was fun though! Your first real mission! How’d it feel?” 

“It was awful.” Klaus laughed. 

“Yeah, missions suck ass. So you gonna go back on your pills?” Vanya frowned at him. 

“I hadn’t thought of that. Are those my only choices?” 

“You’re asking _ moi_?” The sentiment was accompanied with comically wide eyes and a finger pointing at his own chest. “I’m really not the expert here on solutions that aren’t pills.” 

“You said you were sober,” Vanya couldn’t help the slightly accusatory tone her voice took on. Klaus sighed heavily. 

“I am, like, right now,” he said slowly, eyes trained on his lap, “but I’ve kinda learned not to make promises about all of that.” She wanted to say something comforting, but words evaded her so she reached out and put her hand over his knee. Telling him she would help him might not land so well, considering how she’d torn their relationship apart as adolescents at his inability to conjure Five, and such a confession in that climate directly after he was able to summon Ben, she didn’t know if he’d see it for the good will it was. 

Diego returned with a bowl of potstickers, a blanket, and a stuffed unicorn. “Ferdinand!” Klaus gasped, reaching out for the doll like a child. Diego set the food down on a side table and looked the unicorn over, raising an eyebrow. 

“Ferdinand, huh?” he asked. “Well, you should apologize to Ferdinand.” Lifting the doll like a puppet Diego put on a high voice, saying: “You put drugs in me Klaus!” Klaus rolled his eyes. 

“How’d you even figure that out?” he demanded as the unicorn was tossed over, but didn’t seem interested in an answer as he was handed the bowl of potstickers. Diego sat down on Klaus’s other side, all three of them lined up on the couch, and let his head fall back and his eyes eyes fall closed. 

“If you’re gonna puke let me know,” he muttered. “And don’t fall asleep.” Klaus didn’t have to entertain himself very long, before the front door opened and Allison, Luther, and Five all trudged in. Luther and Allison bypassed the great room, heading upstairs to presumably a bedroom or the infirmary, but Five meandered over and accepted an offered potsticker from Klaus. 

“I’m going to call it, looks like the Apocalypse is averted,” he said as he slumped into an armchair. 

“Shouldn’t we stay up to midnight, just to make sure?” Klaus asked. “You know, like New Year’s?” 

“Sure, I’ll stay up with you,” Five sighed. “When did you get concussed?” 

“Who knows,” Klaus mumbled around a potsticker. “Couldn’t have been that long ago. Was it? Like five or something?” 

“Oh, yeah, I definitely was checking the time,” Diego grumbled, sitting up and opening his eyes. “The Commission isn’t going to let this go, they’re going to send more. We didn’t even see Cha-cha and Hazel, they’re probably still out there.” 

“They are,” Five confirmed, “but we dealt them a serious blow. They’ll need to regroup, and so will we. So maybe relax for a night?” 

“We need to have a plan,” Diego insisted, growing agitated as he looked around at all of them. 

“Diego!” Five snapped. “It’s going to work out, all right? We have a lot of work to do, and we’ll get to it. But we’re not going to be any good at it if we’re not recuperating. All right?” Klaus looked at Diego with large, hopeful eyes, and Vanya wondered at the mess of emotions between them all before Diego muttered something and leaned his head back once more so he wouldn’t have to look at any of them. 

Eventually Klaus finished eating and was steady enough to limp his way up to their bedrooms, while leaning heavily on Diego. They each retreated to their own rooms to change and clean up, and while poking through her closet Vanya found an old journal she hadn’t filled. Journaling had been suggested by her therapist and while the routine had eventually churned out her book, she continued to write every night to make sense of her day. Dressed in an old pair of pajamas, the old uniform ones, she tucked the journal under her arm and met Five in the hall. “Klaus isn’t allowed to sleep for another few hours,” he explained, “want to stay up with him and watch a movie?” Vanya nodded and they left to Klaus’s room, where he was tucked up on his bed on the corner, pillows stuffed behind him to cushion his head, wearing only a pair of leather pants and a set of dog tags. Somehow he, Five, and Vanya all piled onto the bed, with a laptop on a chair in front of them and Netflix on autoplay. 

Staying up with Klaus didn’t entail much, especially when Diego finally joined them and took over checking to see if he was still awake. No one seemed to mind when Vanya propped up her notebook on her knees, and she was grateful, because she really had to process all of this. 

_ The one I said was arrogant and self-centered? He saved me today, by sacrificing his own safety. _

_ The one I said isolated himself? He was the one who stuck by me when I needed him. _

_ The one I said was dishonest? She saved us all by telling the honest truth. _

_ The one I said was cruel? He showed me kindness when I needed it the most. _

_ The one I said abandoned our family? He was the one who dedicated his life to saving us. _

_ And the one I said was dead? _

Vanya paused, glancing over to Klaus whose muttering, for the first time in years, was going without shushing. 

_ Well, he’s still dead, but he’s not gone. _

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so so much for reading! <3


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